Ortiz was heading up a criminal hacking case against Swartz after he was accused of illegally downloading academic papers over Massachusetts Institute of Technology's network.

But her husband Tom Dolan, a former IBM CFO, is sick of people blaming his wife for Swartz's death and is using Twitter to stress that Ortiz was actually being pretty lenient with Swartz, Buzzfeed reported Tuesday morning.

In a series of tweets posted Monday, Dolan attacked ThinkProgress for reporting Swartz "faced a more severe prison term than killers," telling the liberal news site its report was "completely false. Aaron Swartz was offered a plea deal of 6 months. 6 months is not 35 years."

Dolan also fired back against media critic Dan Gillmor for tweeting a Boston Globe article that reported MIT refused to sign a plea deal for Swartz. "If true, just sickening," Gillmor added.

Dolan also criticized Swartz's family, saying it was "truly incredible that in their own son's obit they blame others for his death and make no mention of the 6-month offer."

In a statement about Swartz's death, his family and partner said the 26-year-old's death was "the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach."